Ray Phillips: Art that goes pop at Laura Rathe

Updated 3:37 pm, Thursday, March 14, 2013

Ray Phillips' "Circus Crackers," left, and "007," below, are among the works on view at Laura Rathe Fine Art beginning Saturday.

Ray Phillips' "Circus Crackers," left, and "007," below, are among the works on view at Laura Rathe Fine Art beginning Saturday.

Photo: Laura Rathe Fine Art

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Ray Phillips' "Circus Crackers," left, and "007," below, are among the works on view at Laura Rathe Fine Art beginning Saturday.

Ray Phillips' "Circus Crackers," left, and "007," below, are among the works on view at Laura Rathe Fine Art beginning Saturday.

Photo: Laura Rathe Fine Art

Ray Phillips: Art that goes pop at Laura Rathe

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Ray Phillips made the leap from graphic artist to fine artist eight years ago, and now he's made another, perhaps less financially perilous, journey - returning to Houston after a stint in Galveston.

For "Reversion" at Laura Rathe Fine Art, his first solo show in four years, he's produced a collection based on 1960s and '70s pop-culture iconography, especially heavy on images from film and TV, with frequent trips to the concession stand (Junior Mints or Dots, anyone?). Phillips had an eye for Westerns and James Bond as a kid, later learning his way around typography and coming to appreciate his art hero, Robert Rauschenberg.

All of those influences play into his art, which incorporates collage and mixed media on large canvases and wood panels.